All Entries in the "Living Abroad Guides" Category
Understanding Purchasing Power When Living Abroad
When you decide to live abroad, management of your household budget begins to be affected by a variety of “external budgeting factors.” These are factors that are beyond your individual control and are determined by national, regional, and global forces that affect the world economy.
The currency [...]
Understanding Currency Exchange Rates When Living Abroad
When living in the USA, management of your household budget is usually nothing more than the administration of your personal income and expenses. These “internal budgeting factors” are under your personal control and reflect decisions that you make regarding your lifestyle choices. Living abroad is [...]
The New Canadians Blog
The New Canadians is a blog that covers life for immigrants to Canada. The articles provide a comprehensive overview of life, business, Canadian culture, travel, and a variety of other topics. The blog will definitely be of use to anyone planning to retire abroad to [...]
I Love Romania Travel Blog
I Love Romania Travel is primarily a travel blog, and although I don’t normally list travel blogs, I’ve decided to list this blog. The blog is well written and organized and provides informative articles on Romania’s culture, history, cities, and customs. This seemed like more than a [...]
International Comparisons: Human Development Index
The level of development of a country depends on a variety of factors. One can look at each of these factors independently or one can attempt to combine these factors into one measurement for international comparisons. The Human Development Index combines measures related to education, [...]
KZBlog
KZBlog is a blog written by an American expatriate living in Kazakhstan. It’s an interesting blog to read because the location is very unique. The articles are also well written and cover a range of topics about life in Kazakhstan, its culture, and current happenings. [...]
International Comparisons: Social Inequality (Gini Coefficient)
Social scientists generally believe that one of the roots of instability in any society is the level of social inequality that exists. The greater the gap between the rich and the poor, the greater the likelihood of such problems as crime, terrorism and political instability. [...]
International Comparisons: Consumer Price Index
The decision to retire abroad can be a major life decision with a whole set of new life challenges and opportunities. In other articles, issues like budget planning and currency exchange rates have been discussed. For the most part, those issues deal with the present. [...]
International Comparisons: Confidence in National Financial Systems
Last year’s Global Economic Crisis shook the foundations of many financial systems across the world. Financial systems that had engaged in high risk loans suddenly found the bottom falling out from under them. Many countries had to step in to underwrite the bad loans made [...]
When Not to Retire Abroad
Although I am an advocate of retiring abroad, I also recognize that it is not for everyone. As a regular reader of several expatriate forums, I discover that for some people, it is a bad experience. It should prove useful to you to go through [...]
International Comparisons: Net Migration Rates by Country
People tend to vote with their feet. Net migration rates by country measure whether a country gains or loses people through migration in a given year. Net migration rates by country is a useful measure when making international comparisons, although sometimes takes a little bit [...]
Vanessa’s Blog
Vanessa’s Blog is written by a local girl in China and provides insights into the life and changes taking place in China today. Most of the articles deal with the activities of a younger girl maturing in a new China, but the writings provide a very interesting glimpse [...]
International Comparisons: Safest Places to Retire
When searching for an overseas retirement destination, one of the factors to consider is the relative safety of a country for retirement. Oddly enough, if you feel a great need to retire in one of the safest countries in the world, you should probably pack [...]
An Alternative Approach to Managing Culture Shock for Old Coots
Culture shock can be a period of much stress for expatriates who retire abroad. However, those who are able to step back and analyze the causes of culture shock are more likely to be successful at controlling and managing culture shock. Managing culture shock involves understanding [...]
Somewhere in the World Blog
Somewhere in the World Blog is a blog written by a Canadian teacher working in Seoul, South Korea. Her blog also covers her travels to other parts of the world, but there is a nice concentration of articles about expatriate living in Korea that goes [...]
Culture Shock: An Introduction to Myths and Realities of Culture Shock
Culture shock is the feeling that one experiences when one enters a new cultural or social environment and begins to adjust to that environment. This adjustment period may be relatively easy depending on a variety of factors or it can be a time of extreme [...]
